Major: Design Arts - Industrial Design/Graphic Design/etc (This Major's Salary over time)First off, let me begin by saying I had a very negative opinion of SCAD my first two years there. There are many reasons that factor into this (move off campus immediately, you'll actually SAVE money doing it) but the biggest one was I wasn't really "in" it. SCAD is not a normal university. You don't go to SCAD to hang out at massive parties all freshman year and drink yourself silly. You go to SCAD to get trained to do what you want to spend the rest of your life doing. With this said, the first year and a half of SCAD is total bullshit. You are required to take art and design classes out of your major before you can actually get down to doing what you came there for. It's ridiculous because many of the students come in with scholarships, which must be maintained with a 3.0 GPA or higher. Now imagine if you will that I came in on scholarship and wanted to get my degree in Film. What classes do I have to take before I get there? Drawing I & II, Life Drawing and 2D and 3D Design. That's 5 classes, at 3,000 a class, 15,000 spent on a total waste of time. And let's say that I suck at drawing? Well, if I don't make a 3.0 or higher, poof, scholarship gone. I'm screwed. No film degree. I transfer.

This happened to many of my peers freshman and sophomore year. It's disappointing because SCAD gives out scholarship money like candy fully knowing that most of the students won't make it four years. But that's not my story.

I went in for graphic design, and switched to advertising in my second year. Freshman year sucked. All truth there. The dorms were awful, the food terrible (it made me sick) and the student services were a joke. (Beware the angry sub shop ladies, just smile and nod).
Sophomore year I moved off campus, which was less expensive (for me, because I wasn't eating the dorm food so that was a waste of money so it evened out with my % loss of scholarship) and things got A LOT better. Half way through that year I got into my major classes and started to realize why SCAD is actually a great place to go to school.

I feel I should say now that a lot of your experience depends on which major you choose to pursue. Freshman year is going to suck, that's a given, be ready for that. But when I started doing what I actually came there to do, I fell in love. SCAD loves to look good... and if you make them look good, they will love the shit out of you. Don't go to classes just to go. Go to classes to be the best student in the damn class. Otherwise, it isn't worth it. You can't spend that kind of money and not try your hardest. (or maybe you can, in which case I hate you).

I've read a lot of reviews saying "SCAD didn't help me find employment after school." Really? You really thought they were going to? No one is going to give it to you, you have to take it. And to take it, you have to be talented. To be talented, you have to go to class, and you have to try your hardest.

Last thing: Think of SCAD as a trade school. You go to be trained in something. It's not a college, it's not an "experience." You have to WANT it, and want it bad. If you do, you've picked the best school to go too. If you want things given to you, don't go to college at all.

I graduated in June. I started working a week later at a huge agency all the way across the country in L.A. The last 6 months have taught me a lot, but the biggest thing it's taught me is that I am more experienced, mature, talented and ready than the vast majority of my peers out here. The work load at SCAD was intense but it's made work in the real world easier, because I was ready for the long hours and because I went in DAY ONE knowing exactly what to do. And that's because of my education at SCAD.

Responses

I had a very similar experience - with a few differences. I went to the (possibly no longer existing) Rising Star program at SCAD in High School, and made a TON of friends. This greatly influenced my decision to go to SCAD.
Once I got into my freshman year and had to take 2D design and Drawing, I started to get very unhappy. I got through it and by the time I was in my major classes was in that same mindset of 'be the best in the class' (partially because I enjoyed bothering the other students in the class).
However, I've realized now, those 'foundation classes' are actually very important, and I wish I'd paid more attention to some of them (like Art History, which was hard not to sleep through - mainly due to the presentation and no easy access to good museums/galleries).
I went to SCAD hoping to major in Game Design (which wasn't actually offered when I first attended, it became a major in my sophomore/junior year, but rumors were flying before that). I ended up majoring in Sound Design, with a game design minor, and am working in my field (and I have done sound design for some well known properties - games and film alike). And yet even as a sound designer, I find that the 2D and drawing classes have helped me out. Not necessarily in a direct way, but in more subtle ways, such as learning to critique others work in a 'good' way and offering helpful advice. Or being able to interpret uses of color and light in films. Things you may not even realize you're learning at the time but the key is that you have to be paying attention, driven, and open to instruction! So many other students there refused to take critiques or wouldn't pay attention because it wasn't 'relevant' to them (I'm guilty of that one here and there myself).
That's not how you go to school - you don't go to school to be TAUGHT, you go to school to LEARN. So YOU have to learn, be interested in your classes, research outside of class, etc. The only way you'll get ahead in an art field such as SCAD prepares you for is to be actively involved in that field once you're out of school. Keep up with developments in your field in your spare time, experiment just for fun. That's the thing - if you're not having fun at an art school, maybe you're just... not that into art.